“Asia News recently reported how the misogynist crime of female genital mutilation (FGM) continues to be a ‘widespread traditional practice’ in ‘rural areas and more remote areas of Indonesia, particularly the island of Java.’ The story makes sure to remind us, naturally, that while this crime is being perpetrated in a Muslim country, the crime ‘is not a rule set in a rigid manner by the precepts of Islam.’ It is only widespread, we are consoled, because of the actions of ‘the more extreme and integral fringe.’

In her coverage of this news report, freedom fighterPamela Gellershrewdly asks the key question that somehow mysteriously eludes the minds of every breathing human being in our mainstream media: ‘The fringe made it widespread?’

Indeed, if only the ‘extreme and integral fringe’ supports this sadistic and vicious crime against women, and if it is ‘not a rule set in a rigid manner by the precepts of Islam,’ then where are all the Muslim imams, muftis and clerics in the world, and in Indonesia in particular, vociferously denouncing and repudiating this crime as un-Islamic and coming to the defense of Muslim women?“

If you’re going to call someone a “freedom fighter,” they should be actively fighting for freedom, no? Freedom is a word and like any word, it can mean whatever the user wants it to mean. A useful definition – one that I think everyone can agree on – is that freedom is the opposite of tyranny and its corollary – bigotry and oppression. So, with those key concepts in mind, a “freedom fighter” fights against tyranny, bigotry and oppression.

Is Pamela Geller a “freedom fighter” according to this definition? One way to determine her fitness as one who fights for freedom can be culled from her book “The Post-American Presidency.” As she put it:

“It may be an old cliche, but it’s true: show me your friends, and I’ll show you who and what you are.”

But it gets better; Yerushalmi – an Orthodox Jew – also wrote this piece called “Jew Hatred?“:

“The Jews it seems are the bane of Western society.I will ignore the Leftist version of the Jewish problem… But the Jewish problem for conservatives is a different and quite interesting affair. It is most interesting because so much of what drives it is true and accurate. Now the high-brow among these men and women insist that they don’t hate Jews or wish them ill so in that sense the contempt is disguised much like that from the Left. The conservative variety simply professes to uncover the many and varied ways Jews destroy their host nations like a fatal parasite, especially when the host is a Western nation-state.“

Which leaves one last question – what kind of person would endorse someone with such repugnant views and associations as a “freedom fighter?” Someone that sums up his and his fellow right-wing travelers mission with this:

“As I have documented in United in Hate: The Left’s Romance With Tyranny and Terror, the Left cannot reach its hand out in compassion and solidarity to the suffering people under Islam, or under any other tyranny. Doing so would be an admission of the evil of an adversary culture and ideology, which, in turn, casts a spotlight on the superiority and goodness of Western civilization, and therefore serves as a reminder of the importance of protecting and saving it.”

By Western civilization, he means white people. Female Genital Mutilation is more about contrasting inferiority with superiority than it is about helping women. Despite the reality of FGM’s facilitating women’s oppression, what’s clear is that once again, these “freedom fighters” are exploiting this issue to promote a racist and anti-democratic agenda.